The Traitor (Dixon, 1907)/Book 1/Chapter 7
WITHIN two weeks Steve Hoyle's new Klan was organised and in absolute control of the Piedmont Congressional District.
John Graham saw that his defeat was a certainty and gave up the political fight in disgust. But he determined to prevent at all hazards the degradation of the Klan into an engine of personal vengeance and criminal folly. There was but one way to do it. He dreaded the undertaking, yet there was no help for it. He must again fight the devil with fire. The reign of terror inaugurated by the Black Union League had made necessary the Ku Klux Klan. There must be a power to hold in check Steve's irresponsible gang.
He immediately organised in each county a vigilance committee composed of the bravest and most reliable members of the old Klan who had refused to follow Steve. Over these men he sought to exercise only a moral influence as their former Commander-in-chief, save in his own county where his word was accepted as law by the surviving veterans of the regiment he had commanded in the Civil War.
These men he instructed to watch the movements of Steve's followers, learn in advance of their intended raids, break them up by moral suasion if possible; by force as a last resort.
He had found the task a tremendous one. For the first time he realised the terrible meaning of the lawless power of the Klan. The secrecy of their movements under his own leadership had been perfect. Yet with his knowledge of their methods he had believed it would be comparatively easy to defeat their plans. He found it next to impossible. In spite of the utmost vigilance on the part of his committees, the new Klan had inaugurated a reign of folly and terror unprecedented in the history of the whole Reconstruction saturnalia.
They whipped scalawag politicians night after night and drove them from the county. They called on carpetbagger postmasters who immediately left for parts unknown. They whipped Negroes, young and old, for all sorts of wrongdoing, real or fancied, and finally began to regulate the general morals of the community. They whipped a rowdy for abusing his wife and on the same night tarred and feathered a white girl of low origin who lived in the outskirts of town and ran her from the county.
The morning after this outrage occurred, John Graham walked into Steve's law office, brushed by his clerks and boldly entered the inner room where his enemy was at work.
Steve sprang to his feet and his hand instinctively sought the revolver in his hip pocket.
"You needn't be alarmed; I'm not ready for you yet," said John, his eyes holding Steve's with their steady light.
"Well, I'm ready for you," was the quick retort. "What do you want?"
"Merely to give you a little advice this morning."
"When I need your advice, I'll let you know."
John closed the door.
"Your men are covering the name of the Ku Klux Klan with infamy," John went on evenly. "If you have even the rudiments of common sense you must know that within a few weeks these fools will be beyond your control."
"I haven't felt the need of your help as yet," interrupted Steve.
"No, but I'm generous. I volunteer to anticipate the needs of your weak intelligence."
"John Graham," Steve broke in angrily, "if you have anything to say to me, say it, and get out of this room!"
"I will say it, my boy, and—don't—you—forget it!" John answered with quiet emphasis, taking a step closer to his rival. "I'm close on the track of the men who are at present terrorising this county. I'll come up with them some night and there'll be business for the coroner next day. Dare to permit another outrage of a personal character in this county and I'll find your men if I drag the bottom of hell for them, and when I do, I'll hang them to a tree in front of your door. And—mark you—if I fail to find them I'll—hold—you—personally—responsible!"
Before Steve could reply he turned on his heel, slammed the door and left.